Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 201

Chapter 201

Chapter 201

David’s POV

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The heavy oak door of Aaron’s home office clicked shut, sealing us into a space that felt worlds away from the lighthearted laughter in the kitchen.

Here, the air was different, tinted with the scent of old paper, and expensive tobacco.

A single lamp cast a warm circle of light over the two leather chairs we sank into.

Aaron leaned back, loosened his collar, and looked at me with that steady, serious expression I knew too well.

“Tell me about Julie,” he said without preamble.

I rubbed a hand over my jaw and exhaled.

“That night I found her at the office, she was okay at first. Coherent. She talked. I brought her straight to my condo because I didn’t want to leave her alone. Asked her questions, tried to understand what was going on. But after that night something shifted-like a switch flipped in her head. She stopped answering, stopped reacting the way she had. It was strange. Then I learned she’d already been dealing with depression for years, even before Fiona died. Fiona was basically the only person who ever really cared about her. Losing her sister just made everything collapse.”

Aaron looked away, his jaw tightening. I could see the guilt eating at him, visible in the way his shoulders slumped.

“I destroyed her,” he murmured. “Her business, her career… I took everything from her because I was convinced she had a hand in Jessica’s disappearance all those years ago. I was wrong.”

I shook my head, my voice firm. “The past is the past, Aaron. You had every reason to be suspicious back then, even if it turned out you were aiming at the wrong target. If she had been a different person from the start, you wouldn’t have looked at her twice. You don’t owe her your guilt.”

“Fiona died trying to make things right,” Aaron argued softly. “She saved me, Jessica, and Adrian.”

“And that was her choice,” I shrugged. “It’s already happened. We can’t trade lives in retrospect.”

The conversation shifted then, moving toward the shadow that we’d been ignoring for months: Eric.

“We have to take him off the board,” I said, my tone turning clinical. “He’s not just a nuisance anymore. He’s a threat.”

Aaron ran a hand through his hair, looking genuinely baffled. Then, he stood and walked to the window, staring out at the dark garden.

“I don’t get it, Dave. Why does he hate me this much? I understand Lauren Walters-1 exposed her in front of the whole world, she has all the rights to want a retribution. But my own cousin? Do I really have to eliminate another member of my family because of a grudge over a chair and a title?”

I looked him dead in the eye. “Jealousy is a poison that doesn’t care about bloodlines, Aaron. You have Adrian

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and Jessica to protect now. You aren’t just a CEO; you’re a father and a husband. You can’t let people like Eric conquer just because you’re feeling sentimental about a shared last name.”

Aaron nodded slowly, a grim acceptance settling over his features.

Silence settled between us again, the kind that usually meant one of us was about to change the subject. He dropped back into his chair and gave me a half-smile.

“So… are we going to talk about her, or are you going to keep pretending?”

I rolled my eyes, feeling a prickle of annoyance. “Come on, bro. You can’t be serious right now.”

“Oh, I am very serious,” Aaron smirked, pushing off the desk to pace the small room.

“Remember six years ago? When I brought Jessica over for that family dinner? You didn’t stop teasing me for forty-eight hours straight. You lived for it, Dave.” He stopped and pointed a finger at me.

“I know the relationship is fake. It’s written all over the way you’re trying too hard.”

“Well, thanks, Sherlock,” I muttered, leaning back and crossing my arms. “Incredible deduction. Just keep your mouth shut around Nonna, alright? She’s already on a warpath.”

Aaron chuckled, leaning in closer. “I’ll play along. But I’m going to need a reason to stay on your side. You didn’t exactly make it easy for me back then.”

I looked at him, genuinely shocked. “You can’t be serious, Ron. You’re going to blackmail me for cover?”

“Absolutely,” his arrogant smile widened. “Karma is a bitch, and she happens to look a lot like me today.”

I glared at him, a look that usually made board members break into a cold sweat, but Aaron just stood there, entirely unfazed.

Having known my cousin for a lifetime, I knew when I’d been backed into a corner. I had to give in.

“This is just… practical,” I insisted, though even to my own ears, it sounded defensive.

“Practical,” he repeated, his voice dripping with mock sincerity as he threw my own tone back at me.

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that, Dave. I saw the way you looked at Daphne downstairs. And the way she looked at you the second the words ‘my girlfriend’ left your mouth.”

I shook my head, fighting the urge to let a smile slip through. “You’re impossible.” I mumbled.

We spent the next ten minutes trading playful jabs and old insults, the tension of the earlier conversation bleeding out into the easy banter of two men who had grown up as more than just cousins.

By the time we finished, and left the office, the moon was high outside the office window, silvering the edges of the garden.

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Chapter 201

The hallway outside the study was dim, only a few wall sconces still glowing.

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Aaron headed toward the master suite, and I started down the opposite direction before realizing I had no idea which room Jessica had given Daphne.

I turned back. “Hey, where am I sleeping? Which room did Jess put Daphne in?”

Aaron paused at his door and glanced over his shoulder, that knowing smirk back in place.

“Wait here. I’ll ask her which one she assigned to your ‘girlfriend.”

I glared at him. “There’s no need for the theatrics, Aaron. You already figured out it’s fake. Just tell me where the room is.”

Aaron’s smirk only widened.

“Keep it down, dear cousin,” Aaron said, his voice dropping into that smooth, mocking tone. “Trust me, you don’t want Jess to hear that. She’s smart, Dave-scary smart. And while she can keep a secret-and would probably be more understanding than anyone else since we were in this exact spot once, it’s better if she doesn’t know the full truth just yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because the fake usually turns real sooner than you think,” Aaron said, his voice dropping into a knowing

tone.

I raised a skeptical brow. “Please. This isn’t some romance book crap, Aaron. I’m doing this for a cruise ticket and a quiet life.”

“We’ll see,” he said, turning to walk away. “I’ll text you the room number.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he was already disappearing behind the doors.

A few seconds later my phone buzzed with a text from him: ‘Second floor, third room on the right. Good luck, lover boy.

I replied with a middle-finger sticker and headed up the stairs.

When I reached the door, I paused. I turned the handle quietly, stepping into a room that immediately smelled of her. It was a mix of honey and lilies-Daphne’s signature scent.

The room was bathed in shadows, the only light coming from the moon outside.

I began to undress in the dark, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it onto a chair. I was halfway through unbuckling my belt when I heard a soft stirring. It wasn’t coming from the bed.

There was a faint mumbling, a rustle of fabric from the corner of the room.

I turned and switched on the small bedside lamp.

Daphne was lying on the small, decorative couch by the window. She was curled into a ball, a thin throw

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Chapter 201

blanket pulled up to her chin.

My brow furrowed in confusion.

Why on earth was she sleeping there?

I walked over and tapped her shoulder gently.

“Daphne. Wake up.”

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She mumbled something incoherent and turned the other way, trying to bury her face in the cushions.

“Daph,” I said, a bit louder, “get in the bed.”

She shook her head, her voice muffled. “No… I’m leaving the bed for you. It wouldn’t be right for you to stay on the couch. You’re the guest… sort of.”

I stared at her, genuinely baffled. “When did I ever say I was going to stay on the couch? This is my cousin’s house.”

A thick silence followed as the gears in her head finally began to turn. She shifted, turning over to look up at

Her amber eyes were wide and glowing in the soft amber light of the lamp, the fog of sleep vanishing instantly.

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice breathless.

I let out a long, weary sigh. “Daph, this is not the time for an argument. I don’t have the energy for your stubbornness, and you’re clearly exhausted. Get in the bed.”

She opened her mouth to protest-I could see the defiance forming in her eyes-but I didn’t give her the chance. I didn’t have the patience for a debate at two in the morning.

I reached down and scooped her up off the couch.

She let out a small yelp of surprise, her hands instinctively flying up to crawl around my neck for balance,

I ignored the way her heart was racing against my chest. I carried her the two steps to the bed and dropped her gently onto the silk sheets.

She just stared at me, frozen, as I leaned over to tuck the duvet around her.

“Now go to sleep,” I commanded softly.

I reached over and switched off the lamp, plunging us back into the silver-grey darkness. I turned and strode into the adjoining bathroom, closing the door behind me.

I leaned against the cool tile of the wall and let out a long, ragged breath.

My pulse was thrumming in my ears. I looked in the mirror, though I couldn’t see much in the dim light.

12:05 Fri, Apr 10

Chapter 201

What are these feelings? I asked myself, the question echoing in the quiet space.

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I turned on the faucet and let the cold water pool in my palms before splashing it against my face.

The chill was a brief, stinging distraction, but the question remained.

This was supposed to be a transaction. A strategic maneuver to pacify Nonna and navigate the family cruise without the usual interrogation.

It was a script we’d both agreed to. Yet, every time my hand brushed hers, every time those amber eyes caught the light and held my gaze, I felt a hairline fracture in my own defenses.

Something was shifting, something quiet and uninvited, but undeniably real.

I dried my face with a towel, the fabric rough against my skin, and stared at the door leading back to the

room.

She was in there now, tucked under the silk sheets I’d wrapped around her.

Tomorrow, the stage would be set. We’d walk out there and perform for the rest of the family, weaving our story until it was seamless. We’d keep pretending because that was the plan.

But tonight, standing in the heavy silence of the bathroom, I wondered how much longer I could play the part when the line between the lie and the truth was starting to vanish.

I wondered if I was still just trying to save a trip, or if I was starting to hope that, eventually, we wouldn’t have to pretend at all.

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